A Couple Years Gone
by Waris
Summary: The incident on the ledge with Charles Martin in 7x20 could have gone SO differently. A one-shot take on one of the angles it could've taken, and the aftermath at the lab when the dust settled. Kind of an alternate/missing scene combo that might have taken a couple years off some of the detectives' expiration dates.


They'd gotten the call from Flack about 5 minutes ago and the anticipation for what this could potentially lead them to was high as Danny Messer and Jo Danville had grabbed their vests and left the labs.

The black SUV came into the other mess of emergency vehicles at an angle, Jo holding to the passenger handle above the door as Danny jerked it to a stop.

"He showed up a little while ago," Don said as the two got out of the SUV and came to where he was standing. All three stared up the 6 stories to the rooftop where Charles Martin was visible out on the ledge next to the fire escape. "Went up the back stairwell from the parking garage, stakeout team chased him up to the roof," Flack said.

"Come on Mr. Martin," the voices of the officers already up there floated down to them, "step back over the ledge."

"Any sign of Christina Marino?" Danny asked.

"No, but I'm hopin this guy can help us out with that before he jumps."

"He's not gonna jump." Jo looked at them both when they looked at her with a 'how you figure?' expression on their faces. "The only reason he's up on that ledge is because he was chased there," she explained and added with a little shrug, "he just has nowhere else to go."

Flack stayed by the unis and the gathered crowd they were trying to keep at a distance as Jo and Danny crossed the street and entered the building's ground floor. The pair took the stairs two at a time off the last floor the elevator came up to before the roof access.

"You take one more step and I'm going to make a mess of the street down there." Martin warned as Messer and Jo came out the stairwell doors, where 3 uniformeds were holding their positions, held at bay by his threats to bail off.

"Get back!" Martin yelled as the two detectives came to a pause just a few feet in front of the other officers.

Jo's eyes narrowed just slightly, she tilted her head as she analyzed the situation. And then she made her choice. "I'll be right back."

Danny turned to look at her, touched her elbow, his voice soft with his concern. "Whoa whoa whoa, where you goin.."

"Gonna have a lil chat with Mr. Martin," she said almost casually as she strode away from Danny and across the rooftop.

"Get back," Martin warned as he saw her break away from the 3 officers and the other detective, coming towards him. "I said get back!" he shouted pointing at her.

"Relax Mr. Martin," she said nonchalantly, giving a soft grunt as she lifted one leg then the other to step over the lip of the ledge opposite the opening of the fire escape from him, "I'm not going to try to make you come down from here." She gripped the flat metal railing in her left hand so tightly her knuckles were white. "I figure if you're determined to end your life you're gonna do it no matter what * _ **I**_ * have to say. I just wanna know if you can tell me where Christina Marino is."

"You think I'm stupid?" he snapped. "You didn't climb out on this ledge to ask me about Christina."

"Oh I'm here for Maci and Patricia too," Jo admitted without pretense, "but we both know where * **they** * are. It's Christina I'm worried about now," she told him, the updraft blowing strands of black hair across her eyes and cheek as her eyes bored into his.

"I would never do anything to hurt Christina," he said with a shake of his head.

"Well I know you don't wanna jump, you're much too fond of yourself for that." Martin shot her an annoyed glare at the jab but she wasn't fazed. "Why don't you step back over this ledge and we can chat about Christina on solid ground."

He turned back to look down, agitated as he shook his head and shifted his weight from foot to foot. "Y'know I don't have a lot of options, Detective. Either I jump or I spend the rest of my life in prison."

"You don't have to decide that * **now** *. Lord, I've got a dozen great ways you can kill yourself in jail if you change your mind," she offered somewhat cheekily.

Martin stared at her a moment, looked back to the street. Below, Flack's neck was craned upwards, watching with just as much, if not more nerves, than his colleague as his eyes flicked between her and the suspect she'd climbed out onto the damn ledge with. On the roof several feet away Danny waited with his hand hovering at his hip as if waiting for Martin to give him * **any** * chance to pull his piece.

Jo, however, never took her eyes of Martin. "Let's go," she said to him definitively. She turned her body in preparation to step back over.

Martin looked down, tossed a look over his shoulder at the officers and detective there by the stairwell door. He looked across at Jo, her eyes firmly set on his, and she gave a little jerk of her head to the left to indicate they both move back over the lip of the ledge onto the rooftop. Looking as though he'd finally conceded defeat, he turned to take the guide rail closest to Jo with his left hand but at the last second instead of grabbing the rail he grabbed * **her** * hand and yanked. The detective was so taken off her guard she didn't even yell when her hip hit the handrail and for a split second her feet swung over dead air as she was pulled around and across the gap of the fire escape. Suddenly Martin had both her arms behind her back between his chest and her body, holding them with one arm, while his other arm wrapped across her chest and gripped the shoulder of her vest.

"Jesus," Danny exclaimed, and then thrust out both arms with, "No!" as the uniformed officers behind him drew their weapons and aimed. "Stand down, hold your fire!"

On the ground Flack's chest lurched and he jabbed a hand at a uni. "Get on the horn, get a bus, EMS, another ladder truck, and you get 'em here now," he barked at the same time he grabbed his radio with his other hand. "This is detective Don Flack," he said as he stared up at Martin and Jo, "We've got an officer involved hostage situation at the residence of suspect Charles Martin, I need SORT and HNT here ASAP," he said of NYC's Special Operations Response Team and Hostage Negotiation Team. "I don't wanna know what it takes to coordinate, make it happen!" he shouted and pursed his lips as he stared at the ledge.

On the ledge Martin had turned his body sideways to avoid giving the unis on the roof or anyone on the ground a clear shot at him and Jo's left foot was toeing the edge of the concrete ledge and open air. And with Martin grabbing her arms behind her between their bodies she couldn't grab at anything, even him, to ensure she had a solid hold on something. Her heart pounded so heavily she could feel it in her throat as she swallowed.

"Charles let's be smart about this," she began in a voice that was much more steady than she felt. The wind suddenly seemed stronger from this position, and she was exceptionally more susceptible to the sense of vulnerability it produced.

"I told you, I don't got a lot of options..." he said, his eyes darting between the ground to his left and Danny and the other officers on the roof to his right. "Get back!" he shouted at them.

"Of course you do, Martin, for God's sake use your head," Jo said, "you didn't kill Christina, I think you know * _ **I**_ * think you din't kill 'er, so let's just relax, get back over that ledge and you tell us what happened so we can * **find** * her."

"Martin you got a choice here pal," Danny said, keeping his voice even and calm. "You're already goin down for Patricia and Maci, you know that," he took a step forwards, "don't be stupid.."

"Stay back!" Martin yelled, "or I take us both down," he gave a jerk of his arm, and Messer grimaced as Jo's feet slid off the edge and her legs scrambled to get them back onto the concrete.

'Jesus Christ,' Flack thought as he stood there, helpless, on the street below and feeling frantic, 'he's gonna toss 'em both off...'

"All right!" Messer exclaimed, backing up a step. "All right, let's just cool off all right? You know we're not gonna take you out while you got her," he nodded at Jo, "and we're not gonna off you till we talk about Christina, so why don't you let her go, and we sit down and have that chat all right? You clear your name with Christina and everyone walks away from this."

"Detective I have a shot sir..." one officer reported. He had slowly strafed to the left while Martin's attention was on the street and Danny and now had a clean line right at his back.

"Yeah? And you take it and then what, huh," Danny said still holding his arms out to keep the officers behind him and stood down, "he goes over and takes her with him. Just be cool," he demanded of them again.

Jo could feel Martin's chest heaving and could all be hear the wheels turning in his head. Briefly she closed her eyes as her heart thudded so sickly that it made her chest hurt.

"Two ways outta this Martin," she said appealing to him again, opening her eyes. "Cuffs or a body bag. Only one way is going to help us help Christina."

Several seconds passed. A minute. Two. All of it with Martin seemingly more agitated and undecided, Jo flinching in his hold every time he shifted his weight between his feet.

A full 3 minutes passed before Jo sensed the change in demeanor and felt the shift in posture she was hoping for. Martin released a loud breath, and then abruptly yanked his arms away from her. The sudden forceful removal of his body from behind hers threw her center of gravity forwards and with a little cry she pitched into the fire escape railing, her right hand grabbing it as she hit her knees and a leg swung off the edge.

"Go, go!" Messer flicked his hands at the uniformed officers who darted to where Martin held his arms out to his sides.

"Keep your hands where we can see them," he heard them say as he darted across the roof towards Jo.

She had pulled herself up to standing and gotten herself the rest of the way over the ledge when he got to her, her hands trembling as she stared at them. "You all right?" he asked as he put a hand on her shoulder.

"Yeah. Just...lil adrenaline rush, maybe too many cups of tea," she quipped shakily. Her hands were shaking so badly she almost couldn't open her phone and when she nearly dropped it Danny reached out and took it from her.

"Here I got this, you-whoa, ok," he said and quickly grabbed her shoulders as right on the heels of that adrenaline rush came the crash and she about hit the concrete on her knees. "Ok just take it easy," he told her as he lowered her down to sitting and leaned her back against the ledge's lip.

Jo flexed and clenched her hands to get control of the tremors as she inhaled deeply and let the breath out slowly through her mouth while she closed her eyes. Wow. She hadn't had that big of a jolt in the field in a looong time...

"Mac, it's Danny. Yeah this is Jo's phone. Listen we had a little situation up here with Martin an-" And Jo tuned him out, pulling her knees up and resting her forearms on them while she kept her eyes closed and just breathed.

A minute or two later she felt someone next to her and she opened her eyes to find Flack bending to one knee on her left. "Heck of a way to get him talkin," Don quipped with a small smile. "I don't think they teach that at the Academy." He looked at her a little more seriously as he asked, "You ok?"

After a second's contemplation she nodded. "Yeah. Yeah I'm good."

"C'mon," he offered a hand and grabbed hers, his other under her arm, "let's get get you home," he said as he helped her stand.

"Home? No," Jo shook her head, brushed her hair away from her face and rested her hands on her waist. "He's willing to talk, Don, let's get what we can outta him while we have him."

"Jo you just about took a header off a six story rooftop."

"And I'm * **fine** *," she stressed, annoyed. "Now let's get down there," she jerked her head at the stairwell where the other officers had already taken Martin, "and get him to tell us where Christina Marino is," she said and brushed past him to head to the stairwell.

Don came up as Danny finished his call with Mac. "And you married one a those?" he gestured at Jo's back.

"Didn't marry * **that** * one," Danny said, "thank God. Lindsay's bad enough," and he tossed Jo's phone to Don as he followed Jo's path across the rooftop and down into the stairwell.

Flack merely shook his head as he put the phone to his ear and dialed Mac.

=======================  
Crime Lab; A couple of hours later  
=======================

It wasn't too long after Hunt had left since making his peace with Mac that Flack, Danny and Jo returned to the lab, the former two flanking the latter between them in protective formation as they came down the central hall, all three still in their flak vests. They entered Mac's office quietly, left Jo by his desk.

"You be all right?" Don asked with a hand on her shoulder.

"Yeah, thanks," Jo gave them a quick nod, hands on her lower back and then watched the two of them leave. Once they were gone she turned back to look at Mac. "Whooooooo," she let a long breath out through pursed lips, running her hands down the front of her legs as she lowered into a chair under Mac's scrutinizing stare, leaned forward and rested her elbows on her knees with her hands clasped in front of her.

His glass doors closed and several minutes passed in silence.

Slowly Mac took his own seat. He'd learned what had gone down with Martin just before Bill had shown up and he still couldn't believe what his detectives had told him during their respective calls. And then they'd - she'd - continued their interrogation like it was business as usual. Only it wasn't. Or rather, it very easily could have been a different kind of business.

More silence. Then Mac broke it. "Do you want to say it, or should I."

"Uff, please don't start," Jo murmured, most decidedly not in the mood.

"What the hell were you * **thinking** *?"

"You say that like you think I was at the time," she returned, pushing off her knees to lean back in the chair.

"Jo.." his voice warned her not to get flippant with him, not with this.

"I saw an opportunity to get to him, Mac, to get him talking to us, and I took it. You know as well I as I do even without being there that he wan't going to come off that ledge with us just standin there lookin at him," she gestured at him with one hand, her southern accent more pronounced as it usually was under times of excitement or stress. "We'd have never gotten the information about Christina that we did otherwise, he'd have never come back over."

"Six stories up and you thought the best way to get him down was to go out there with him to chit chat?" he asked with a little anger creeping under his tone

"It was the * **only** * way," Jo retorted, anger slipping into her own tone now. "I've profiled enough narcissistic suspects in my career to recognize that he wasn't going to talk unless he had someone right up there with him to talk * **to** *, someone's undivided attention."

"So you just ...waltz out there and offer yours," Mac said with a wave of his hand.

"He wasn't going to let the unis get near him, and frankly I'm offended at your questioning my judgement on it. Christ, Mac," she lifted the fingers of one hand to her temple, "you're acting like I'm a beat cop on my first assignment with a shiny new badge and no clue."

"He could have killed you, Jo!" Mac erupted. "One step to his left, one flick of his arm and you wouldn't sitting there," he flipped a hand at where she sat, "with ruffled feathers and bristling pride, you'd be down on one of Sid's tables. Did * **that** * cross your mind when you traipsed out across the roof?"

"You think I didn't weigh that risk, that I just went out there for the hell of it? I did what I thought best for the investigation at the time," Jo said hotly, thoroughly fed up and pushing out of her chair to stand, "and if you're going to sit here and insinuate that I'm suddenly incapable of making those calls in the field then it's time you get someone in here that you do trust and I'll show myself back to DC." Her steps were heavy with infuriated disbelief as she strode to the double doors.

Well shit. Mac sighed and rubbed at his eyes. "Jo..."

"What," she snapped, her hand on the stainless steel handle. When he didn't say anything else, she flicked her head back to look at him and he was rising from his chair, moving around his desk to cross his office towards her.

He stood there a couple of feet away from her...and then didn't know what to say. Well that wasn't true. He knew * **what** * to say, he didn't know how to articulate it without sounding like the helicopter parent upset that his college-age child hadn't come home by 10.

With a hefty sigh he rubbed at the back of his neck with one hand. "Jo, I'm sorry," he said, his anger deflated as quickly as it'd flared. "I didn't mean to infer that you can't do your job. Hell you're one of the best detectives we've got out there, and there's no one else I'd want getting in the face of someone like Charles Martin when we've hit a dead end."

Jo looked at his face, his posture. A moment passed and then she moved her hand off the door handle and turned her body to face him, hands at her hips, silent with one eyebrow lifted slightly as she just waited for him to continue with the 'but' she saw in his eyes.

"We've all been in tight spots before," Mac obligingly went on, "all of us. But this, up there out on that ledge...that was close, Jo. * **Too** * close. You didn't hear the tremor in Danny's voice when he called me," he gestured out the glass walls to where Messer was bending over a table with Lindsay across the hall, "or Flack's when he called less than a minute later. One step to his left, Jo, one, and I'd be calling Tyler, Russ... bringing Ellie in to tell her her mom wouldn't come home tonight."

Jo didn't openly react for at least a full minute. She continued to just look at him. Her eyes narrowed slightly and her head tilted to one side, that tiny little half-smile so signature with her just perceptible on her lips.

"...what?" Mac asked, flicking his eyes left and right with a little confused shrug. God that expression of hers could be so maddening sometimes. Was she mad? Did she have more to argue?

"Are you done?" she asked with a little lift to her eyebrows.

"Am I done?" he parroted, the inflection to his voice indicative he wasn't following.

"Y'know," she gave a little side-to-side shrug of her shoulders, "done beating around the bush instead of just comin out and sayin it..."

He gave a little lift of his hand, palm up, not sure he understood. Had they made peace or what?

Jo smiled as she crossed her arms. "Mac Taylor, you are downright * **cute** * when you're scared. Moreso when you don't admit it."

With a little gush of air in a 'caught out' laugh, Mac dropped his head with a nod. "Yeah," he conceded then looked up. "Okay. I was scared, Jo." God had he been.

She took a few steps to close the gap between them as she said with quiet confession in her hazel eyes, "Weeell if it makes you feel any better, you're not the only one."

Mac smiled. "Of the two of us, Jo, you had every right to be, and no one would question that."

"No, Lord, I'm talking about Danny," she said, nudging Mac's upper arm with the back of one hand with, "you shoulda seen his hands, took 'em a good twenty minutes to stop shaking," as she turned to walk back to the doors of the office.

Mac stared at her incredulously, and then shook his head with a small laugh. "Jo." He called to her as she got to the doors.

"Yep." She turned back to look at him over her arm, door open in that hand.

He looked at her a moment, the nodded and said, "You did a helluva job up there." She didn't respond other than to nod back with a smile of her own. "We okay?" he asked.

There was just a small pause as she answered, "We're okay." They always were.

Mac smiled. Then he gestured out the door. "Now go change. We need to find Christina."

She merely waved with the back of her hand as she strode down the hall towards her post-it overrun office.


End file.
